Referring to the country's 8.2 per cent growth in the second quarter of this fiscal, Prime Minister Modi said, "It is a message that Bharat today is emerging as a growth engine of the global economy." Bharat has become a model of high growth and low inflation.
The Prime Minister said, "Our North East, our villages, our Tier 2 and 3 cities, Nari Shakti, innovative youth power, naval power, blue economy, space sector all held immense potential which could not be utilized in the previous decades. Bharat is now moving forward with the vision of harnessing this vast and hitherto untapped potential.
Terming the next-generation GST as the biggest of all reforms in 2025, he said there has also been a significant reform in the direct tax system with zero tax on income of Rs 12 lakh.
The yatra that Bharat finds himself on today is not only that of Vikas but also that of a transformation in mentality. This psychological awakening is also a journey towards psychological rebirth, he said.
No country can progress without self-confidence, he said. Unfortunately, a long period of slavery has shaken this self-confidence of Bharat, and the reason is that the slave mentality is a major obstacle in the journey of Viksit Bharat.
...Today, Bharat is the fastest growing economy in the world; some consider Bharat as a global growth engine, others as a global power, but have you heard anyone call it Hindu growth rate? he said, reminding the audience that the term was used at a time when India was struggling to even achieve a growth rate of 2-3 per cent.
Linking a country's economic performance to the faith and identity of its people is a reflection of the slave mentality, he said.
The message put forward was that India's slow growth was in some way a consequence of Hindu civilization itself. And those who today communitize each problem then had no objection to this term. The term became part of books and research papers, he said, adding that an entire society was reduced to a synonym for poverty.
Macaulay's policy, which sowed the seeds of mental slavery in India, will be 200 years old in 2035. That means 10 years left. Therefore, in these ten years, we must all come together to free our country from the slavery mentality, he said.
The Prime Minister said the slave mentality had destroyed India's indigenous manufacturing sector. Even during the colonial era, Bharat was a major producer of arms and munitions. Weapons were exported from India. But after independence, our defense manufacturing ecosystem was destroyed. The slave mentality became so widespread that those in government began to view Indian-made weapons as inferior, making India one of the largest importers of defense equipment.
Today, in every sector, leaving behind the slave mentality, attempts are being made to achieve a new pride, the Prime Minister said and listed decisions such as the Jan Vishwas Act, and a campaign to locate the rightful owners of Rs 78,000 crore unclaimed in various institutions to build trust and confidence between the government and its citizens. This money belongs to the poor and the middle class. So far, camps have been set up in around 500 districts and thousands of crores of rupees have been handed over to the real owners, he said. It's not just about asset recovery; it's a question of trust.